Yesterday, I attended Iso's funeral.
I got to know Iso at a Wikipediastammtisch (Wikipedia regulars' table). A colleague working on an article about the Freiburger Bächle had invited Iso, the great expert on historical water management in Freiburg.
Following the discussion, some details in the Wikipedia article had to be
changed.
Later, we both worked in the Freiburg Schau-ins-Land Historical Society on a committee charged with improving the society's ailing financial situation. The project was so successful that Iso and I were asked to audit the association's accounts in the following years. Since the association's accountant was located in Breisach, once a year, we took turns driving his cigarette-smoking car or my non-smoking car to the historical town on the Rhine.
Later, we both worked in the Freiburg Schau-ins-Land Historical Society on a committee charged with improving the society's ailing financial situation. The project was so successful that Iso and I were asked to audit the association's accounts in the following years. Since the association's accountant was located in Breisach, once a year, we took turns driving his cigarette-smoking car or my non-smoking car to the historical town on the Rhine.
We had many discussions during the trip. Iso impressed me with his knowledge of Freiburg's local history and sharp judgment. He frequently spoke of his mother, whom he adored.
After this assignment, I frequently met Iso in the city. We drank many a coffee together and chatted.
I learned a lot from the funeral service handout, including the origin of the name Iso.
Iso means "iron strong," i.e., he has an iron will to do good, to fight evil, and is your soul's best protection.
St. Iso came from a noble family in the Swiss canton of Thurgau. He was a monk in the monastery of St. Gallen and, for a long time, head of the outer monastery school. Monk Iso was regarded as a musical genius and well-versed in history and medicine. Rudolf I, the later Burgundian king, asked Iso to teach at the monastery school of Munster-Granfelden in the Bernese Jura region. The pious scholar died there at forty-two on May 14, 871.
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| The blessing hall at Freiburg's main cemetery |
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep ... 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Iso's urn was buried in his parents' grave. Particularly impressive is the gravestone with the inscription of a citation by Father Alfred Delp* S.J., "Tod ist für uns nicht Abgrund und Absturz und Zerrinnen und Scheitern, sondern. Tor ins Leben hinein: Durchgang (For us, death is not an abyss and a fall and disintegration and failure, but the gate into life: a passage). "
What a testimony of faith! R.I.P. Iso
*German priest and philosopher Alfred Friedrich Delp SJ was a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism and a member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group. In 1944, he was falsely accused of being involved in the failed July Plot to overthrow Hitler. Delp was arrested, sentenced to death, and executed on February 2, 1945.
*German priest and philosopher Alfred Friedrich Delp SJ was a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism and a member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group. In 1944, he was falsely accused of being involved in the failed July Plot to overthrow Hitler. Delp was arrested, sentenced to death, and executed on February 2, 1945.
*
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